Liverpool want to reach an agreement with Barcelona to sign Ousmane Dembele, according to a mixture of reports.
Naby Keita is at AFCON, Thiago Alcantara is sidelined with a mysterious hip injury which he somehow picked up immediately after returning from COVID-19 isolation and Harvey Elliott is still returning from a serious ankle injury.
Liverpool plan risky swap deal with Barcelona for Keita and Dembele
A report from Liverpool Echo (h/t El Nacional) claims that the Reds want to swap Naby Keita for Ousmane Dembele…
The Guinean only has 18 months left on his Liverpool contract and we recently weighed up the club’s options.
It’s been an injury torn time on Merseyside for the former RB Leipzig star but Barcelona were interested in him before he moved to Anfield and they’ve been linked recently as well.
It’s a risky move from Liverpool if true. Provided there is enough interest this summer, they could sell Keita for £25-35million or they could extend his contract if they think he’s going to overcome his injury woes even if that’s unlikely.
Dembele story not going anywhere but it’s a non-starter for Liverpool
According to the Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo, Jurgen Klopp is ‘in love’ with Dembele.
Dembele is just as injury-prone if not more so and he wants to be paid huge wages.
I’d love a player as talented as the Frenchman to join the Reds because he’s a stunning forward but the fact of the matter is that he simply doesn’t offer any guarantees over the number of games he’s able to play per season.
Last season, he played nearly 2500 minutes but in the 2019/20 season, he didn’t even play 500.
The most important attribute for any world-class player is availability. It’s why Wijnaldum became so important to Liverpool. He was so good defensively, so press resistant and was brilliant in transition but most importantly, he was there every week for Jurgen Klopp.
